Mulla Nasruddin Jokes

1. Mulla Nasruddin called his boy because now the time was ripe and things about life had to be told to him. So he told him, "You come with me to my room, I would like to discuss a few facts about life with you. Now you are mature and a few things have to be told to you."

      Mulla was feeling a little nervous -- as every father feels when facts of life have to be told to children. As old, out-dated minds do, he was feeling a little nervous.
      When they went into the room and he closed the door the boy said, "You don't be nervous. Now, what do you want to know? I can tell you, don't be so nervous."
       *

   2. Just the other day it happened: Mulla Nasruddin's wife went to see Sona -- you know Sona, the tarot card reader? -- and she came back very much disturbed.
      The future disturbs. Anything about the future disturbs. It is good not to know about the future because once you know anything about the future it starts changing your present, and disturbance arises.

      She was very worried. Mulla Nasruddin asked her, "What is the matter?"
      She said, "I have been to a tarot card reader, a very good woman, and she has said a few things and I am very worried."

      Mulla Nasruddin said, "Don't be worried. Nothing is certain in life so no prediction can be made. I tell you that only fools are certain."
      The wife said, "Are you really certain about that?"
      He said, "Absolutely certain!"
       *

   3. Mulla Nasruddin was sitting with one of his photographer friends on a bench in the park, and a negro passed by. Mulla Nasruddin said, "Look! Look! A negative!"
     
*
   4. One*
 day I asked Mulla Nasruddin, "Your umbrella is so new, so beautiful. When did you purchase it?"
      He said, "It is a miracle, Osho! It is not new, it is at least thirty years old."
      I said, "Thirty years old? It looks so new -- as if it has not been in the rain even a single time!"
      He said, "It is thirty years old, but has been exchanged for many other umbrellas at least a hundred times.Just the other day in the temple again it happened!"
   *
  
   5. There was a case. A woman was suing Mulla Nasruddin. She claimed that her child was Mulla Nasruddin's child. And Mulla was denying vehemently in the court.

      Finally, the judge asked: 'Say only one thing -- did you sleep with this woman, Nasruddin?'

      Nasruddin said: 'No, your honour -- not a wink.'
*

   6.  A tiny, fastidious woman came at rush-hour and she upturned the whole grocery store. For hours she bothered and bored Nasruddin. Only after hours of struggle could he satisfy her; she finally purchased what she wanted and was satisfied.

      And then the woman said: 'Mulla, you may not be knowing, but when I came to your shop I had a very terrible headache -- and now it is absolutely gone.'

      Mulla Nasruddin said: 'Dear madam, don't be worried. Don't be worried! It has not gone. It has come to me.'
    *
 
   7. I remember, once Mulla Nasruddin's wife said to him, "Nasruddin, I wonder ... sometimes I get very puzzled. Sometimes you look so manly, so powerful and strong, and sometimes so effeminate, so feminine. What is the matter?"

      So Nasruddin brooded, contemplated, and then he said, "It must be hereditary, because half of my parents were men and half were women."
   *
  
   8. I have heard: Mulla Nasruddin and three of his friends went into silence. Hearing too much from me about silence -- that silence is the golden bridge, the rainbow bridge to God -- they retired into a cave for a seven-day experiment in silence.

      But after one hour they all came back.
      I said, "What happened?"

      They said, "Everything failed! We four sat in silence with closed eyes. After ten, twelve, minutes, one of us said, 'I wonder whether I have left the electricity on or not.' And the second one said, 'Have you forgotten that we have taken the vow of silence for seven days?' And the third one said, 'You fool! You have also spoken!' And then Nasruddin said, 'Thank God! I am the only one who has not spoken yet!'"
  *
   
   9. Mulla Nasruddin and his wife were arguing, and Mulla said, "It must have been the most unfortunate moment in my life when I married you."

      The woman said, "But I was not running after you."
      Mulla said, "That is true. No mousetrap ever runs after the mouse. The mousetrap simply waits; the mouse comes itself."
 *
    
   10. Once it happened that Mulla Nasruddin and his friend were drinking in a pub. They came out, completely drunk, and Nasruddin was an old, experienced drinker. The other was new, so the other was affected more. So the other asked, "Now I cannot see, I cannot hear, I cannot even walk rightly. How I will reach my home? You tell me, Nasruddin please direct me. How I should reach my home?"

      Nasruddin said, "First you go. After so many steps you will come to a point where there are two ways: one goes to the right, the other goes to the left. You go to the left because that which goes to the right doesn't exist. I have been many times on that right also, but now I am an experienced man. You will see two paths. Choose the left one; don't choose the right. That right doesn't exist. Many times I have gone on it, and then you never reach, you never reach your home."

...........Neelanjan

Mulla Nasruddin Jokes

1. Mulla Nasruddin was sitting in front of his house. It was raining and somebody came running and he said, "What are you doing here? Your wife has fallen in the river!"

      Mulla rushed to the river. A great crowd had gathered, but nobody was daring enough to jump into the river -- it was so dangerous, it was such a big flood. Mulla immediately jumped -- and started swimming upstream.
      The crowd laughed and people said, "Mulla, what are you doing? Why are you trying to swim upstream?"

      He said, "You keep quiet! -- I know my wife. If she has fallen in the stream, she must have gone upstream, she cannot go downstream. She can never do anything naturally. I know my wife."
       *

  2. Mulla Nasruddin was saying to me one day, I and my wife never argue.'
      I could not believe it! It seemed almost impossible that a wife and a husband did not argue. I said, 'Mulla, how do you manage it?'

      He said, 'The day we got married we decided one thing: I will talk about great and lofty subject matters only, and she will take care of small trivia.'
      I asked, 'For instance?'

      He said, 'For instance, what house to purchase, what car to purchase, to what school to send the children, what kind of clothes I should wear, what kind of business I should do -- these are small trivia. My wife settles them.'
      He said, 'For example: whether God exists or not, whether war should be continued in Korea or not -- things like that, great things. I decide great things, she decides small things.'
       *

   3. One day Mulla Nasruddin came into the restaurant and declared, "My wife is the most beautiful woman in the world."
      Everybody was shocked, everybody knew his wife... he himself knew it.
      People gathered around him and said, "Mulla, have you had a revelation? Who told you? Has she been chosen Miss Universe? What has happened that you have to declare?"
      He said, "She has not been chosen, she has told me herself. I am a faithful servant. Whatever she says I believe it. She said that she is the most beautiful woman, and I said, perfectly right; I will go and tell my friends."
       *

   4. Mulla Nasruddin went to the market and saw a big bushel of hot chilli peppers on sale. He bought them, returned home, and began to eat.
      A little while later, his disciples came and saw the Mulla with tears streaming down his face, his mouth and tongue burning. "Mulla, Mulla, why do you go on eating them?" As he reached for another, Nasruddin replied, "I keep waiting for a sweet one."
       *

   5. Once I asked Mulla Nasruddin, "How many years have you been married, Nasruddin?"
      He said, "Twenty odd years."
      So I asked, "Why do you call them 'odd'?"
      He said, "When you will see my wife you will understand."
       *

   6. One day I saw Mulla Nasruddin almost crying, he was so sad. I said, "What is the matter? Why you are so sad?"
      He said, "I am really sad. My wife has appointed a new secretary for me."
      I said, "So what? What is there to be so sad about it? Is she blonde or brunette?"
      He said, "Forget all about blondes and brunettes. He is bald! That's why I am crying!"
*

   7.  Mulla Nasruddin was talking to a man and he said 'My wife has a very bad memory.'
      And the man asked 'Do you mean she forgets everything?'
      Mulla Nasruddin said 'No, she remembers everything!'
       *

   8. A man came to Mulla Nasruddin and said 'Nasruddin. have you heard? The great scholar of the town has died and twenty rupees are needed to bury him.'

      Mulla gave him a hundred rupee note and said 'Take it, and while you are doing it, why not bury five? Remember, these scholars are very calculating and cunning people -- bury them as deep as possible, otherwise they will come back. And if you need more money, come to me, don't be shy about it!'
     *
 
   9. Once Mulla Nasruddin didn't go to the office. In the evening he came to see me and he was very happy, because he had slept in bed the whole day -- not a care in the world.

      I asked, "Nasruddin, why have you taken a holiday today?
      He said, "Couldn't help it. I tossed a coin in the morning to see whether to go to the office or not -- if it came down heads I had to go, if it came down tails I could enjoy a holiday."

      So I asked, "It came down tails and you enjoyed a holiday?"
      He said, "Yes, but I had to toss it ten times, then it came to tails."
       *

   10. I have heard about Mulla Nasruddin. He took his pay one month and there was a ten-rupee note extra. The accountant must have counted wrongly. But he was happy.

      Next month there was a ten-rupee note missing so he immediately complained. The accountant said, 'Mulla, and what about the other time when I had given you a ten-rupee note more? Then you didn't complain.'

      Mulla said, 'Listen. When a mistake is committed once, it is okay. But when it is committed twice, I complain.'
  ...................Neelanjn

Mulla Nasruddin Jokes

1. Mulla Nasruddin was in love with a woman. The woman was very tall, and the woman lived far away, almost one mile from the tram terminus. So Nasruddin used to walk her to her home every evening.

      One day, after just a few minutes' walk, Nasruddin said, "Give me a kiss." But she was so tall that Nasruddin needed a stool or something. So they looked around and saw a blacksmith's shop, abandoned. They found an anvil there, so he stood on the anvil, kissed the woman, and they started again towards home. After half a mile, Nasruddin said, "One more, darling."

      The woman said, "No! I have given you one kiss and it is enough for tonight."
      So Nasruddin said, "Then what is the use of carrying this damned anvil!"
       *

   2. Somebody was asking Mulla Nasruddin, "Why, Nasruddin, are you leaving so early today?" -- he was leaving the tavern.
      He said, "Every day it is a problem. The wife!"
      So the man said, "Are you afraid of your wife? Are you a man or a mouse?"
      Nasruddin said, "I am a man."
      And the man said, "Then why you are going so early if you are a man? And what certainty have you got that you are a man?"
      Said Nasruddin, "I am certain, absolutely certain, because my wife is afraid of mice. I am certainly a man. I am afraid of her and she is afraid of mice. Had I been a mouse...!"
       *

   3. One night Mulla Nasruddin called his wife and said, "Bring my specs, because I have been seeing a beautiful dream and much more is promised to me. Bring my specs, because the place is not so well lighted, and I cannot see clearly."
       *

   4. Mulla Nasruddin was talking to his doctor. The doctor said, "Nasruddin, you confess that you are bad-tempered. I suppose I need not tell you that science has discovered that your bad temper is caused by an ugly little microbe."
      Mulla Nasruddin said, "For heaven's sake, speak quietly. She's sitting in the next room."
       *

   5. Mulla Nasruddin was given an interview with a shipping company. The manager asked, "Nasruddin, it is a dangerous job. Sometimes the ocean behaves so roughly. If you are caught in tidal waves, what are you going to do with your ship?"

      He said, "No problem at all. I will simply lower down the defense mechanism that every ship has, just weights, huge weights which keep the ship stable even when there is so much turmoil all around."

      The manager said, "Another tidal wave is arising...?"
      He said, "No problem. I will again lower down a huge weight" -- In the shipping world these weights are called langers.
      The manager said, "But if a 3rd wave comes, what will you do?"
      He said, "No problem... a bigger langer."

      The manager is in a difficulty what to do with this man. He says, "From where are you getting all these langers?"
      Mulla Nasruddin said, "And from where are you getting these tidal waves?"
       *

   6. The son of Mulla Nasruddin asked him, "Papa, if a Mohammedan becomes a Christian, what will you call him?"
      He said, "He is a renegade!"
      And the son thought it over and he said, "If a Christian becomes a Mohammedan, what will you call him?"
      And he laughed and he said, "He is a man of understanding."
       *

   7. Mulla Nasruddin married the ugliest woman in the town. Nobody could believe it. People asked him, "Nasruddin, what has happened to you?"

      He said, "There is a logic in it. This is the only woman from whom I can escape any time. In fact, it will be difficult not to escape. This is the only woman in the town whom I can trust. Beautiful people are not trustworthy. They can fall in love easily because so many people are attracted towards them. I can trust this woman; she will always be sincere towards me. I need not be worried about her; I can go out of the town for months, I will not have any fear. My woman will remain mine."
       *

   8.  Just the other day I heard somebody ask Mulla Nasruddin, 'Why did Jesus say "Blessed are the poor in spirit"?'
      Mulla thought for a while and then said, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit for they have no money to buy booze.'
       *

   9. Another time somebody asked Mulla Nasruddin, 'And what is the eleventh commandment?'
      He said, 'Thou shalt not get caught.'
       *

   10. One day I went to see Mulla Nasruddin. He was sitting under his bed. I asked Nasruddin, "What is the matter? Why are you sitting under your bed?"
      He said, "Why not? I am the master of the house, I can sit anywhere!"

      And then his wife came and she said "You coward! You come out and I will show you who is the master!"
      He said, "Nobody can force me to come out! I am the master so I can sit anywhere I like!"

      Now the wife is very fat and she cannot go under the bed, so I asked the wife, "What are you going to do now?"
      She said, "You wait! Lunch time is coming closer -- he will have to come out! And under the bed he can go on talking about his mastery; above the bed I know who is the master!"

.....Neelanjna

. Mulla Nasruddin Jokes

1. Mulla Nasruddin was caught. When he came out of court he said to a friend, "It has been very hard: the judge first fined me fifty rupees" -- because he had kissed a woman, a stranger, on the road. So he was telling his friend, "The judge first fined me fifty rupees for kissing her -- and then when he looked at the woman he fined me fifty more for being drunk!" ... Because the woman was almost no woman at all -- she was so ugly that nobody could kiss her if he was in his senses!
    
*
   2 Mulla Nasruddin became very aged; he attained one hundred years. A reporter came to see him, because he was the oldest citizen around those parts. The reporter said, 'Nasruddin, there are a few questions I would like to ask. One is, do you think you will be able to live a hundred years more?'

      Nasruddin said, 'Of course, because a hundred years ago I was not so strong as I am now.' A hundred years before, he was a child, just born, so he said: 'A hundred years ago I was not so strong as I am now, and if a small child, helpless, weak, could survive for a hundred years, why shouldn't I?'
     *
 
   3 Mulla Nasruddin was saying to one of his friends early in the morning, walking on the lawn, "My wife is almost like a mousetrap." And women are so attuned, their antenna is always up in the air; if you speak loudly they may not listen, but if you whisper they will listen to every word.

      The wife came out and she said, "What are you telling him? Yes, I am a mousetrap -- and who are you? You are a mouse. And remember, the trap was not running after the mouse, it was the mouse himself who entered the trap. So what are you telling your friend?"
       *

   4. Mulla Nasruddin was resting in his chair. His wife was looking at the street and he was looking at the wall. They were sitting back to back, as husbands and wives always sit.

      Suddenly the wife said, "Nasruddin, look! The richest man of the town is dead, and thousands of people are going to give him the last send-off."
      Nasruddin said, "What a shame I am not facing that way!"
       *

   5. Once Mulla Nasruddin went to a doctor -- and doctors have learned the trick from the priests: they write in Latin and Greek, and they write in such a way that even if they have to read it again it is difficult. Nobody should understand what they are writing.

      So Mulla Nasruddin went to a doctor and he said,
      "Listen, be plain. Just tell me the facts. Don't use Latin and Greek."

      The doctor said, "If you insist, and if you allow me to be frank, you are not ill at all. You are just plain lazy."
      Nasruddin said, "Okay, thank you. Now write it in Greek and Latin so I can show it to my family."
     
*
   6. Once Mulla Nasruddin came back to his home very, very late at night. He knocked, the wife asked, "Nasrudin, what is the time?"

      Nasruddin said matter-of-factly, "It is very early, only elevenfifteen."

      The wife said, "Don't you lie to me. I just looked at the alarm clock. It is not eleven-fifteen, it is three-fifteen. The whole night is past."

      Nasruddin said, "One minute. You believe in a rotten twenty-rupee alarm clock, rather than believing in your beloved husband? What type of marriage is this? What type of woman are you?"
       *

   7. Once it happened: one man came to Mulla Nasruddin and asked for some money. Nasruddin knew this man, knew well that this money was not going to be returned, but it was such a small sum that he thought, "Let him take it; even if he is not going to return it, nothing is lost. So why say no for such a small sum?" So he gave him the money.

      After three days the man returned. Nasruddin was surprised. It seemed impossible, it was a miracle, that this man had returned. After two or three days the man came again and asked for a big sum. Nasruddin said, "Now! Last time you deceived me." He said, "Last time you deceived me -- now I am not going to allow it again."

      The man said, "What are you saying? Last time I returned the money."
      He said, "Okay, you returned it, but you deceived me -- because I never believed that you would return it. But this time, no. Enough is enough. Last time you behaved contrary to my expectations. But enough; now I am not going to give it to you."
       *

   8. Once it happened: Mulla Nasruddin came out of the village tavern and the new priest saw him -- he was passing by on the road. The new priest said, "Nasruddin, you are a religious man. What do I see? You are coming out of such a place? My son, drink is of the Devil. And when the Devil invites you again, refuse. Why don't you refuse?"
      Nasruddin said, "Reverend, I would like to refuse, but the Devil may get sore and may not invite me again."

*
   9.  Mulla Nasruddin died and went immediately, or was sent immediately, to hell. There he reached Satan who had been waiting for him for a long time -- he was a man long awaited there. Satan received him, welcomed him, and Mulla Nasruddin said to the devil, "Boy, am I happy being here in heaven."

      The devil said, "Nasruddin, you are mistaken. This is no heaven."
      Nasruddin said, "That may be your attitude. I am coming from India -- to me it looks like heaven."

   *10 Mulla Nasruddin fingered a banker who was coming out of his office and said, "What about two annas for a cup of coffee?"
      The Mulla was looking so distraught, so sad, that the man felt for him, and he said, "Here is one rupee. Take it and have eight cups of coffee." So Mulla went.

      Next day he was again there on the steps of the office, and as the banker came out, he punched his face, on the nose.
      The man said, "Hey, what are you doing? And this is after I gave you one rupee just yesterday? What type of thankfulness is this?"

      Mulla said, "You and your lousy eight cups of coffee." And he punched him again on his nose and said, "They kept me awake the whole night!"

Neelanjan
       *
   

Mulla Nasruddin Jokes

 1. One day, Mulla Nasruddin was walking with a very big stick which was too long for him. One friend suggested, "Nasruddin, why don't you cut a few inches off from the bottom?" 

Nasruddin said, "That would not help -- because it is this end that is long."

       
   2. Mulla Nasruddin once applied for a job. In the application he mentioned many qualifications. He said, "I stood first in my university, and I was offered the vice-presidency of a national bank. I refused because I am not interested in money. I am an honest man, a true man. I have no greed, I'm not bothered about the salary; whatsoever you give me will be okay. And I love work -- sixty-five hours per week."

      When the superintendent who was conducting his interview looked at his application, he was surprised and said, "Lordy! Don't you have any weaknesses?"
      Nasruddin said, "Only one: I am a liar!"

       
   3. Mulla Nasruddin's wife drags him to a movie house. And in the picture which is shown the hero hugs and kisses the heroine so gracefully, so sweetly, that immediately Mulla Nasruddin's wife turns to him and says, "You never do that to me."

      Mulla Nasruddin said, "You don't understand -- he is paid. Am I paid?"

      But the wife was also a rare personality. She said, "Paid or not paid, you don't know that in real life also they are husband and wife."

      Mulla said, "My god! If in real life also they are husband and wife, then he is a great actor. I can certify that he is a great actor."

       
   4. A similar story is told about Mulla Nasruddin, but juicier. The ticket collector comes, and Mulla Nasruddin looks into everything -- his bags, his pockets. The ticket collector is standing there and he says, "You have looked in every pocket, but you don't look in the left-side pocket of your coat."
      Mulla Nasruddin said, "Don't interfere in my work. Never mention that pocket!"

      He said, "You are strange. I am simply helping you because you cannot find the ticket. Perhaps... why are you leaving out that pocket?"
      Mulla Nasruddin said, "That is my only hope. If the ticket is not in the left pocket, I am finished. So first I will look into everything else. Only as the last resort may I touch that pocket. That is my last hope, don't destroy it."

       
   5. Mulla Nasruddin killed his wife and then there was a case in the court. The judge said to Nasruddin, 'Nasruddin, you go on insisting again and again that you are a peaceloving man. What type of peaceloving man are you? You killed your wife!'
      Nasruddin said, 'Yes, I repeat again that I am a peaceloving man. You don't know: when I killed my wife such peace descended on her face, and for the first time in my house there was peace all over. And I still insist that I am a peaceloving man.'

       
   6. Mulla Nasruddin had become ninety-nine years old, and a reporter from a local newspaper came to interview him because he was the oldest man in the valley. After the interview the reporter said, "I hope that I will be able to come next year also when you have attained the hundred, when you have completed your hundred years. I hope I will be able to come." Mulla Nasruddin looked at the man wide-eyed and said, "Why not, young fellow? You look healthy enough to me!"

       
   7. Mulla Nasruddin's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary came, and he was going out of his house that day. His wife felt a little peeved, because she was expecting he would do something and he was just moving in a routine way. So she asked, "Nasruddin, have you forgotten what day it is?"
      Nasruddin said, "I know."
      Then she said, "Then do something unusual!"
      Nasrudin thought and said, "How about two minutes of silence?"

       
   8. Mulla Nasruddin came to see me. He hailed a taxi, entered it and said, "Driver, take me to Osho Commune."
      The driver came out of the car very much annoyed because the taxi was standing before 17, Koregaon Park.
      He opened the door and said to Mulla Nasruddin, "Fellow, we have reached the Commune. Come out!"
      Nasruddin said, "Okay, but don't drive so fast next time."

       
   9. Mulla Nasruddin was playing cards with his dog. A man looked, he was surprised -- the dog was really playing. So he said to Nasruddin, "Nasruddin, you really have a strange and wise dog."
      Nasruddin said, "Not so -- he is not so wise as he appears, because whenever he gets a good hand he wags his tail. Not so wise as he looks!"
*

 10  .  Mulla Nasruddin came home one night very late, it must have been three in the morning. He knocked; his wife was very angry, but Mulla said, "Wait! First give me one minute to explain, then you can start. I was sitting with a very sick friend."
 His wife said, "A very likely story -- but tell me the name of the friend."
      Mulla Nasruddin thought and thought and thought, and then he said triumphantly, "He was so sick he couldn't tell me!"
 
*Neelanjan     

The man of Tao acts without impediment,---Tao

Three in the Morning

What is this three in the morning?

It is about a monkey trainer
Who went to his monkeys and told them:
“As regards your chestnuts,
you are going to have three measures in the morning,
and for in the afternoon.”

On hearing this all the monkeys became angry.
So the keeper said:
“All right then,
I will change it
To four measures in the morning
and three in the afternoon.”
The animals were satisfied with this arrangement.

The two arrangements were the same –
The number of chestnuts did not change,
But in one case the monkeys were displeased,
and in the other case they were satisfied.

The keeper was willing
To change his personal arrangement
In order to meet objective conditions.
He lost nothing by it.

The truly wise man,
Considers both sides of the question
Without patiality,
Sees them both in the light of Tao.
This is called following two courses at once


Three Friends

There were three friends, discussing life.
One said: “Can men live together and know nothing of it,
Work together and produce nothing?
Can they fly around in space and forget to exist,
World without end?”

The three friends looked at each other
And burst out laughing.
They had no explanation,
Thus they were better friends than before.

Then one friend died.
Confusius sent a disciple
To help the other two chant his obsequies.

The disciple found that one friend had composed a song,
While the other played the lute.

They sang:
“Hey, Sung Hu, where’d you go?
Hey, Sung Hu, wher’d you go?
You have gone where you really were,
And we are here – damn it, we are here!”

Then the disciple of Confucius
Burst in on them and exclaimed:
“May I enquire where you found this
in the rubrics for obsequies,
this frivolous caroling
in the presence of the departed?”

The two friends looked at each other
And laughed:
“Poor fellow,
he does not know the new liturgy!”


The Man of Tao

The man of Tao acts without impediment,
He harms no other being by his actions,
Yet he does not know himself
to be kind and gentle.

He does not struggle to make money
And he does not make a virtue of poverty.

He goes without relying on others,
And does not pride himself
on walking alone.

The man of Tao remains unknown.
Perfect virtue produces nothing.
No Self is True Self.
And the greatest man is nobody

Flight from the Shadow

There was a man
who was so disturbed
by the sight of his own shadow
and so displeased
with his own footsteps,
that he determined to get rid of both.

The method he hit upon was
to run away from them.
So he got up and ran.

But everytime he poot his foot down
there was another step,
while his shadow kept up with him
without the slightest difficulty.

He attributed his failure
to the fact
that he was not running fast enough.
So he ran faster and faster,
without stopping,
until he finally dropped dead.

He failed to realize
that if he merely stepped into the shade,
his shadow would vanish,
and if he sat down and stayed still,
there would be no more footsteps........... Neelanjn

Chuang Tzu Stories

     

Apologies

If a man steps on a stranger’s foot
In the marketplace,
He makes a polite apology
And offers an explanation:
“This place is so crowded.”

If an elder brother
Steps on his younger brother’s foot
He says, “Sorry.”
And that is that.

If a parent steps on his child’s foot
Nothing is said at all.

The greatest politeness
Is free from all formality.
Perfect conduct is free of concern.
Perfect wisdom is unplanned.
Perfect love is without demonstrations.
Perfect sincerity offers no guarantee.

 The Empty Boat

Who can free himself of achievement and fame
Then descend and be lost
Amidst the masses of men?

He will flow like Tao, unseen…
He will go about like life itself,
With no name and no home.

Simple is he, without.
To all appearances he is a fool.
His steps leave no trace.

He has no power.
He achieves nothing.
He has no reputation.

Since he judges no one,
No one judges him.

Such is the perfect man.
His boat is empty.


Means and ends

The purpose of a fishtrap
Is to catch fish,
And when the fish are caught
The trap is forgotten.

The purpose of words
is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped
The words are forgotten.

Where can I find a man
Who has forgotten words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.







................................................................Neelanjan